The voices calling on the financial industry to take more responsibility for the Paris climate goals have become louder over the summer. It’s not just the Swiss climate youth movement that raised their expectations, but also Swiss Parliament, which included clear stipulations on the role of the financial industry in a proposition for the Swiss climate law. Finally, yesterday's announcement by the Swiss Federal Council to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 marks an even more prominent signal. At the same time, global developments regarding our climate are not very encouraging: The massive forest fires in the Amazon again illustrate the urgency of action.

The financial industry is well aware of its responsibility and has accelerated measures in the past years. Yet, more concerted action is needed to achieve the ambitious global goals. Financial Centres for Sustainability (FC4S), of which both Geneva and Zurich are members, was set up as a global platform for financial centres willing to contribute to these goals. This October, FC4S will hold its annual meeting in Geneva – a reason for local and national players to organise a landmark symposium that aims to build bridges between international organisations, NGOs and the financial world. Let’s hope these bridges help steer capital towards climate solutions at a faster pace.

SSF participated in the consultation processes on the reports published by the TEG on 18 June 2019 under the EU Action Plan on Financing Sustainable Growth. In coordination with its members, SSF submitted feedback on Climate Benchmarks and Benchmarks' ESG disclosure, and is in the process of providing feedback on the usability of the Taxonomy. More information here.

Dialogue with Index Providers on Controversial Weapons Exclusions

Since the launch of the initiative in February, SSF, together with initiative signatories, has engaged with six index providers to discuss the request to exclude controversial weapons from mainstream indices. The initiative counts 172 signatories representing USD 9.1 trillion and is still open for further signatories.

Principles for Responsible Banking: Webinar and First Signatories

On 8 August, UNEP FI and SSF held a webinar on the Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB). The PRB provide a framework for a sustainable banking system and will be launched during the UN General Assembly in September in New York. With Bank J. Safra Sarasin, Credit Suisse, Globalance Bank, Julius Baer and UBS, five Swiss banks have so far joined the initiative as founding signatories. More on the PRB

Marfrig, the world’s second largest meat producer, issued a ten-year USD 500m sustainable transition bond. While bonds labelled ‘sustainable’ or ‘transition’ from major GHG emitters are often eyed critically, Marfrig’s bond is a first step in tackling the deforestation.

The first vegan ETF, developed by Claire Smith at Beyond Investing in Geneva, is set to be launched at the New York stock exchange in September.

August 2019: An academic paper co-authored by the Julian Kölbel from the University of Zurich investigated the divergence of five prominent ESG ratings, finding that this divergence is often due to different assessment of ESG categories (so-called “measurement divergence”).